FLIGHT International, 27 May 1971
BOOKS
Operation Overflight: the U-2 spy pilot tells his story for
the first time, by Francis Gary Powers with Curt Gentry
(Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, St Paul's House, Warwick
Lane, London EC4P 4AH; illustrated, £2-50 net). "Follow
ing the turn, I had to record the time, altitude, speed, ex
haust-gas temperature, and engine-instrument readings. I
was marking these down when, suddenly, there was a dull
'thump,' the aircraft jerked forward, and a tremendous
orange flash lit the cockpit and sky." The time was 0526hr
GMT on May 1, 1960, the moment when Francis Gary
Powers, flying a Lockheed U-2 from Peshawar, Pakistan, to
Bodo, Norway, across the Soviet Union, started to change
from being an anonymous pilot employed by the US
Central Intelligence Agency to becoming a world-famous
figure. In this personal account, which he was officially dis
couraged from publishing, Powers describes his earlier
life, his Air Force service, his training, his border sur
veillance missions, his flights over Soviet territory, his
baling-out, capture, trial, imprisonment and return to the
United States. One's sympathies are with him: he tried,
but failed, to use the destruct switch before leaving his
U-2; he had never been briefed on what to do if he came
down in Soviet territory; and so incriminating was the
evidence found on him and his aircraft-—maps, 70mm film,
Service and civilian identification documents—that any
cover story Powers could have thought up would never
have concealed his identity. It was as though the CIA had
never remembered the lessons learned in the Second
World War about flying over enemy territory, or as if the
agency had become so confident of success with its U-2s
that it didn't need to take any precautions in the event of
one of them being shot down or suffering engine failure
on a flight over the USSR.
A History and Philosophy of Fluidmechanics, by Prof G. A.
Tokaty (G. T. Foulis & Co Ltd, 50a Bell Street, Henley-
on-Thames, Oxon; illus, £4-50). The history of technology
has been less than fairly chronicled. The research of a
million industrial firms and government establishments
threatens to engulf the data banks of the world, yet the
influences which have sponsored this knowledge explosion
are in many cases obscure, particularly in the non-main
stream disciplines. Fluidmechanics can hardly be classed
in this category and has a history reaching back to anti
quity, but even so its literature is inaccessible enough to
require philosophically minded students to spend con
siderable time if they are to appreciate fully the contribu
tions made by even well known figures. Professor Tokaty
has brought together an impressive history of fluid-
mechanics, encompassing every worker of significance in
the field and interwoven with the relevant mathematical
background applicable to them. The author is, in
particular, familiar with the work of many of the Soviet
researchers and has himself made notable contributions to
a science which is applicable not only to aviation but also
such mundane and unlikely objects as cooling towers.
Flights into Yesterday, by Leo Deuel (Macdonald and Co
(Publishers) Ltd, St Giles House, 49-50 Poland Street,
London Wl; illustrated, £5-00). Aerial archaeology, with
its unique capacity for initiating and guiding the re-
755
searches of the worker on the ground, has become almost
a specialist branch of the science in its own right. There
is something particularly fascinating—sometimes a touch
of the miraculous—in the ability of the airborne camera
to reveal
"... the line
of mound and ditch and wall"
still underlying the palimpsest of the centuries, yet often
totally invisible on the ground.
Flights into Yesterday, however, hardly lives up to the
interest of its theme, or to the promise of its very attrac
tive jacket. It falls rather uncomfortably between the three
stools of personalities, history and practice. Treatment is
discursive and anecdotal, lacking precision and that basis
of conviction and enthusiasm that can make the subject
live. There are moments, as in the chapter on Contours of
Culture, when the intrinsic fascination of the subject
almost forces its way through; but these moments pass and
the reader finds himself involved in the rather aimless
wanderings of Lindbergh over Yucatan.
Photographs—because the aircraft with the camera are
aerial archaeology—are surely the proper medium for
illustrating a work of this kind: there must be many that
are both impressive and unique. Apart from one or two
notable exceptions, however, the photographic illustrations
are pedestrian and, sometimes, even a little irrelevant. Sur
prisingly, the author relies upon rather small-scale line
diagrams to illustrate some of the more important dis
coveries and achievements. A bibliography of published
work on aerial archaeology is one of the most useful
features of the book.
Brooklands, by P. J. Wallace (Ballantines Illustrated His
tories, 4 Windmill Street, London W1P 1HF; illustrated,
$1 • 50 net). The name Brooklands has historic associations
for both the aircraft and car industries, and Mr Wallace's
account of the famous racing track will bring back many
nostalgic memories. An introduction has been contributed
by Whitney Straight, and many of the illustrations are from
Flight and its associated journal Autocar.
Aircraft Armament, by Merle Olmstead (published by
Sports Car Press Ltd, New York. Available from Graham K.
Scott, 2 The Broadway, Friern Barnet, London, Nil; illus
trated, price 90p). An absorbing subject and one that is
objectively viewed by the author, albeit on a general scale,
in this 112-page book. Dealing in the main with US, British,
French and German guns and ammunition, there are some
enlightening facts concerning the merits and failures of
some of the American turret developments in the Second
World War. Bombs and air-to-surface missiles are not
included in this work. A possible criticism could be levelled
at the fact that up-to-date armament is dealt with in
rather a sketchy manner.
A Talent for Trouble, by Ranulph Fiennes (Hodder and
Stoughton Ltd, St Paul's House, Warwick Lane, London
EC4P 4AH; illustrated, £1-90). A hovercraft journey up
the Nile forms the main theme of this book, whose author
—only 26 when he wrote it—seems to have participated
in more adventures than most men in their lifetimes.
Before the Nile journey could be made, he and his party
had to make their laborious way through Egypt, and his
account provides an interesting ground-level description of
that country at war with Israel.
Stuka at War, by Peter C. Smith (Ian Allan, Terminal
House, Shepperton, Middx; illustrated, £2-70). The history
of the Ju87 Stuka is largely the story of the German Air
Force during the Second World War and the author pro
vides this background in his narrative on this famous
dive-bomber. After its initial success in the Blitzkrieg
of 1940, the Ju87 is seen to be yet another example of
an aircraft made to soldier on in the face of advancing
obsolescence, with the end of the war at last seeing the
final curtain lowered on this ungainly looking, gull-winged
bomber. Photographic coverage in the book is good
although a number of the captions could have done with a
little more attention to detail.